Strategic leadership for the future of India - II

[Hari Seldon]

If the Sangh is taking renewed interest in the BJP org, I welcome it. The BJP brass has shown itself to be immature and unable to govern.

A strong central 'committed core group' is needed to hold these diverse orgs together and impart purpose, cohesion and all those nice things. The Nehru-Gandhi parivar plays that crucial role in the INC, the Communist party of china does that in absentia for the CPM and the Sangh has to do it for BJP.

A system of pre-electing ticket holders through the use of primaries would be a nice experiment, IMHO. The BJP can try it in UP where anyway it has nothing to lose. It might just energize the base, give genuine popular voice power within the party setup and change the game itself, perhaps.

Jai ho.

[RoyG]

Chidambaram’s saffron pal

Sankar Ray

First Published : 30 Apr 2010 12:53:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 30 Apr 2010 01:47:00 AM IST

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley’s full-throated support for Union home minister P Chidambaram from in the upper house of Parliament on April 15 came as no surprise to those who keep track of Chidambaram’s past. The synergy of interests between BJP bigwigs and Chidambaram during the debate on the Dantewada massacre by Maoist guerrillas lay in the commitment to look after the monetary interests of Vedanta Resources plc, UK. Chidambaram was its non-executive director and corporate lawyer prior to becoming finance minister in the first UPA government while the BJP leadership was instrumental during NDA rule in the sale of the Union government’s 51 per cent stake in Balco to Sterlite Industries, Vedanta’s flagship company, for Rs 551.50 crore while SBI Capital Markets evaluated the remaining 49 per cent at Rs 842.52 crore. The world’s first disinvestment minister and BJP ideologue Arun Shourie had a crucial role in it.

But the roots of ideological unity between Chidambaram and the Sangh Parivar are very deep. In his second annual Harish C Mahindra Endowed Lecture at the Harvard Business School in Massachusetts, USA — then finance minister — he made some significant, if not alarming observations. In a veiled attack on Nehru era, he said, “For well over three decades after Independence, India adopted a dirigiste model of economic development. The state was the principal driver of the economy and the economy itself remained closed to the rest of the world. In those 30 years, India’s GDP grew at an average rate of 3.5 per cent. I call those years the ‘lost decades’”. The Sangh Parivar ideologues were silently pleased as they reject the primacy of the public sector.

Chidambaram had in mind the hidden idea of nailing the Second Industrial Policy Resolution (1956) and the Second Five Year Plan (1956-’61), as he has been a vociferous defender of the economic philosophy of IMF and the World Bank.

But Chidambaram is not alone in this. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh preferred the Bombay Plan of 1944 to the plan document of the National Planning Committee headed by Nehru in 1938 and adopted by the Congress when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was the Congress president. In his inaugural address at the J R D Tata birth centenary celebrations in 2005, the prime minister told of his fascination for the Bombay Plan in which JRD had a decisive role.

When Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh pulled up Chidambaram in a newspaper article for treating the Maoist problem ‘purely as a law and order problem without taking into consideration the issue of the Tribals’, Jaitley retorted: “To counter the menace of Naxalism, we need a strong head, a strong heart and enormous staying power. We agree with the honourable home minister.”

He put his argument this way: “What we don’t need is a government which tries to pull down its own home minister; what we don’t need is a divided government; what we don’t need is half the Maoists in the Treasury Benches who try and pull down the government by saying that the fight against Maoism must be diluted.”

However, Chidambaram is no pawn of the Sangh Parivar. His commitment is towards the management of Vedanta and other mining majors. He has said unequivocally: “India’s mineral resources include coal — the fourth largest reserves in the world — iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum and limestone. Commonsense tells us that we should mine these resources quickly and efficiently.”

It’s for the Congress or its president Sonia Gandhi to evaluate the debate on the role of the home minister, triggered by Digvijay Singh. She knows Chidambaram’s antecedents. Incidentally, R Poddar in his investigative treatise ‘Vedanta’s Billions’, wrote that Chidambaram got $70,000 from the company in 2003 when the market value of Sterlite shares appreciated by 1,000 per cent. This caused a hot debate during the monsoon session of Parliament in 2006. Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MPs raised a furore, alleging that the Public and Political Awareness Trust, floated by the Vedanta, contributed funds to both BJP and Congress but Chidambaram remained intact.

Sonia’s leadership has to answer today or tomorrow for the ecocide that is inevitable when the mining begins in earnest. Perhaps the minister is more concerned for the metal kings than the poor tribals whose lands will be requisitioned for exploitation.

http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/ch ... 69481.html

[Bharath.Subramanyam]

The leadership in states are now increasing determined by 'externals'. Some people wanted to know why recently a party was doing flip flop in a state. It got some bad name.

But atleast the party and its ideological mentor tried to avert something even though they knew the media will finish it..

Sometimes I feel a drop of tear in my eyes for some foot soldiers of this ideological mentor, because they are standing like the '13 Kumaon in Rezang La in November 1962', knowing certain death.

http://www.india-forum.com/forums/index ... ntry106831

[brihaspati]

Bharath ji,
most probably the Maoist violence will now target that party's activists at the lower level. This will be covered as a tribal "backlash" against "Hin*****". The grand old man of "Santhal" liberation is a captive f blackmail and pressure. His lower ranks are also making a bid for power. They can be easily lured by the promise of easy money. So a combined violence can very well be unleashed.

The trick will be to point out loudly, which party's activists are being "spared". One of the older methods I am aware of is to use the tall trees (especially the taal) as watch towers. Basically cover all entry-exit into the "territory". You will need to consolidate the "region" with sympathetic or supporters living in contiguous areas and as compact an area as possible. So that if they "come in" they will have no way out. The state machinery will not act in time, so the "Kumaon" regiment must prepare to do what is necessary on their own.

[Muppalla]

Bharath ji,
most probably the Maoist violence will now target that party's activists at the lower level. This will be covered as a tribal "backlash" against "Hin*****". The grand old man of "Santhal" liberation is a captive f blackmail and pressure. His lower ranks are also making a bid for power. They can be easily lured by the promise of easy money. So a combined violence can very well be unleashed.

The trick will be to point out loudly, which party's activists are being "spared". One of the older methods I am aware of is to use the tall trees (especially the taal) as watch towers. Basically cover all entry-exit into the "territory". You will need to consolidate the "region" with sympathetic or supporters living in contiguous areas and as compact an area as possible. So that if they "come in" they will have no way out. The state machinery will not act in time, so the "Kumaon" regiment must prepare to do what is necessary on their own.

Oh my god brihaspati ji.Sahasra pranam. You have a lot of deeper knowledge more than I have realized so far. I wanted to write this whole JHK thingy fiasco (with my less than half knowledge) and I did not find an appropriate thread and also was lazy too.

For those who are interested to know the players and factors inside tribal state of JHK here is the brief story.( I am not good at past )
The JHK tribes are fundamentally divided into one led by Santhals and the other by Chotanagpuri tribes. Santhal leadership led the entire seperate JHK state.

(a) The main Santhal leaders are (1) Shibu Soren (JMM) (2) Madhu Koda ( ex-CM) (3) Babulal Marandi (JVM) and ex-CM from BJP (4) Stephen Marandi from JMM. (5) AJSU leadership and are Santhals. (6) INC had Santhals too.
(b) The Chotanagpuris are mostly Mundas such as Arjan Munda, Karia Munda etc.
(c) Santhals and Chotanagpuris do not get along at all and always at odd. The fight was a traditional tribal fight from times immemorial.
(D) EJ activites are going on rampant in JHK and they don't want to see any BJP based government there
(e) The converts are more in Santhals as compared to Chotanagpuris
(f) Babulal Marandi being a santhal and an RSS ideolouge was the first BJP CM of JHK. BJP saw a problem in nurturing Santhal leadership as there are many leaders and Church role is strong in these tribes. For Babulal Marandi also it is a huge suffocation to be part of BJP though his heart is in the Sangh parivaar. To get a larger pie of Santhals, he created JVM and for him it is better to be away from BJP. A lot of sangh parivaar supporters does not really know this and criticise the BJP for not being able to rope in JVM.
(e) BJP after losing one hand (Santhals) to EJs and INC, does not want the other to go. So they are only interested in buiding the leadership around Chotanagpuris and hence even in their 2009 loss, they sent a message by making Karia Munda as Dy. Speaker of Lok Sabha.
(f) JHK is not just tribals. The non-tribal forward caste population is becoming restless as they are not getting anything that can be called as governance. They are so far voting to BJP and seeing the INC's santhal consolidation may go with INC next time as BJP is strugling to even form a government.
(e) Yadavs and other BCs are voting like their cousins in Bihar to RJD, JDU etc etc.

The BJP fiasco is un-avoidable. Sitting in opposition forever would have speeded up the forward castes towards INC anyway. By going with JMM (stalwarts of Santhals), they risked heavily and this was with full consesus of Mundas. But alarm bells rang in churches at the possibility of direct BJP government. They played a key role inside Santhals to ensure JMM-BJP agreements collapse and return to president's rule. However, my gut feeling is that there will be some agreement so that another Santhal government headed by JVM with Babulal Marandi as CM will form the government. Chotanagpuris and Forward Castes will find it difficult to be in isolation forever and that will be a further bad news in future for BJP.

This time Tribal-Church where ever it was stronger ensured that BJP or BJP-coalition is non-existant. Orissa is a fundamental case study and JHK is vindication of the same.

[brihaspati]

Muppalla ji,
more cannot be spelled out here. However these are one of many aspects that does not allow me to share Sanku ji's optimism about a positive "reaction" in the Gangetic Valley in the short to medium term. A certain degree of preparation to defend and fall back and let the EJ-INC-Islamist-Maoist-external virtual front (difficult to show real formal agreement or coordination - but rather possibly a very loose third-person-network, and mediated by the usual suspects, people who cannot be questioned as to their motives - like jornos, media, "aantels" and faith-functionaries) be exposed as to their real purpose. They will not show their real face until they feel confident that the "H****" is completely broken - which should be a good tactic to pretend.

[Pranav]

Muppalla ji,
more cannot be spelled out here. However these are one of many aspects that does not allow me to share Sanku ji's optimism about a positive "reaction" in the Gangetic Valley in the short to medium term. A certain degree of preparation to defend and fall back and let the EJ-INC-Islamist-Maoist-external virtual front (difficult to show real formal agreement or coordination - but rather possibly a very loose third-person-network, and mediated by the usual suspects, people who cannot be questioned as to their motives - like jornos, media, "aantels" and faith-functionaries) be exposed as to their real purpose. They will not show their real face until they feel confident that the "H****" is completely broken - which should be a good tactic to pretend.

A useful tactic would be to expose the Church orgs as tools of masonic western elites.

[Pranav]

Be careful what you wish for - you may get it - and then we'll be gnashing our teeth at Yuvaraj.

MMS has been a total disaster. The reason I want him gone is because I am convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that he wants to gift away Kashmir to TSP to promote piss in "South Asia". Of course, he won't surrender Kashmir in broad daylinght, but he will gift it away in slow motion through joint love making with his long lost Paki cousins in Srinagar. A kind of surrender like how the UK goalkeeper gave away a goal to US in today's WC game; at least he did so by mistake; MMS wants to do it deliberately.

CRamS ji, despite MMS' shortcomings, there are others who could be worse. For example, as regards Maoists, he seems to want to back Chidambaram, while other family loyalists are opposing Chidambaram.

[ramana]

Shades of "India is Indira and Indira is India!" now its "India is INC and INC is India!"

Those blaming Rajiv Gandhi on Bhopal Issue are not patriotic

and

Anderson was assured safe passage:Ex-US diplomat

All the while the GOI is silent as a sphinx and is letting all and sundry set the agenda and the record.

Can they silence the US diplomat about the previous INC govt role?

[SBajwa]

Here are some quotes from a great sage of India which could become helpful in realizing the strategic leadership.

The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through experience.

When there is a conflict between heart and brain, let the heart be followed.

A man of intellect can turn into a devil but never a man of heart.

Religion is not a theoretical need but a practical necessity.

Renunciation does not mean simply dispassion for the world. It means
dispassion for the world and also longing for God.

There is no misery where there is no want.

Every new thought must create opposition.

Renunciation is the withdrawal of mind from other things and concentrating it on God.

Every man who thinks ahead of his time is sure to be misunderstood.

In this short life there is no time for the exchange of compliments.

Do not wait to cross the river when the water has all run down.

The greatest sin is fear.

Better the scolding of the wise than the adulation of the fools.

If you love God's creation more than God, you will be disillusioned.

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth can't be sacrificed for anything.

God has become man, man will become god again.

If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that we can attain
perfection in any other life.

That part of the Vedas which agrees with reason is the Vedas, and nothing else.

If you want to do anything evil, do it before the eyes of your superiors.

Happiness presents itself before man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head.

If one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom.

If you can't attain salvation in this life, what proof is there that you can attain it in the
life or lives to come?

Never mind if your contribution is only a mite, your help only a little, blades of grass united
into a rope will hold in confinement the maddest of elephants.

The cow never tells a lie, and the stone never steals, but, nevertheless, the cow remains a
cow and the stone remains a stone. Man steals and man tells a lie, and again it is man that
becomes the god.

When even man never hears the cries of the fool, do you think God will?

Strength is life, weakness is death.

Never are the wants of a beggar fulfilled.

We want the education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the
intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

Tell the man his defaults directly but praise his virtues before others.

[Prem]

Good collection Bajwa sahib but to follow this require the stamp of foreign scholars otherwise it means nothing for our Netas. India needs an institute capable of producing Indo Centric strtageic scholars and not the foolowers of foreign players working for their own interests. BK was suppose to start one but could not get the required funding .

[ramana]

It was duty of State to protect Anderson-Cong


I dont follow the logic here please help me! To me it looks like a complete deracinated mind that protects the killer while harassing the victims by way of denial of their claims!

[SBajwa]

by Ramanna
I dont follow the logic here please help me! To me it looks like a complete deracinated mind that protects the killer while harassing the victims by way of denial of their claims!

From 1857 till 1947, from Kashmir till Bhopal Gas leak and later!! India was and is still ruled by the US/British strategic needs and not her own. People in power are not only protecting the US/UK interest but at the cost of the citizens who put them to power (Desis).

[ramana]

Looks like INC guys are reading BRF Root cause thread. Systemic failure my foot!

Bhopal Fiasco a systemic failure:Congress

....
The comments of Tewari came on a day when TV channels reproduced the bytes of Anderson and Arjun Singh, before the UCC chief left the country on December 7, 1984, three days after the world's worst industrial disaster.

"House arrest or no arrest or bail, no bail, I am free to go home...There is a law of the United States...India, bye, bye, Thank you," Anderson had said.

Standing just outside the Union Carbide plant, Singh had said, "There was no intention to prosecute anyone or try to, sort of, harass anyone.
"Therefore, he (Anderson) was granted bail and he agreed to be present in court when the charges are made," the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had said.

Asked about the statements and whether the Central government was aware of these, Tewari said, "I reject the conclusions with the contempt they deserve. There was never ever any intention of Central government to allow any culprit to go scot-free," he said.

The spokesman said a GoM has been constituted and it is looking into all aspects of the issue.

Tewari vehemently denied that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had any knowledge about Anderson being allowed to leave, saying that imputing such motives was "despicable" as Gandhi had lost his mother a month ago and lost his life a few years down the line. {Non Sequitor!}

"We are all anguished by the verdict," he said.

[brihaspati]

I hope the sister takes over. She will do a better job of being the face around which the old+new guard can make a last stand, even if it is Custer's. The brother is too imeptuous and lacks the shrewd intelligence that only seems to run in the female line now since the founding emperor. With all respects to SBajwaji's quotes - the heart has to be tempered by the brain. The brother is all hearts with a very light head. There is great ideological confusion now among the leadership of all the national parties. They are acting as if they are groping in the dark.

It will take at least another decade for the right leadership to come up, until then let the best seat-warmer occupy the place and not featherlights.

[ramana]

Pioneer
Congress speaks in two voices

Cong speaks in two voices

Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

Claims systemic failure; also that he’d have been lynched

Under fire for giving “safe passage” to former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, the Congress on Wednesday came out with conflicting versions on what led to his escape from the country.

Giving a new twist to the controversy surrounding Anderson’s release, a Congress spokesperson attributed it to “systemic failure” while the party’s legal cell justified the release, saying he could have been murdered by a mob. It also cited the expenses incurred to save Mumbai terror accused Ajmal Kasab to claim that it was the duty of the State to protect the life of every citizen, including a criminal.

“At the end of it, there was a systemic failure and there is a need to address it...If we go into the game of finger-pointing, there can be no end,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

But what could become a major embarrassment for the Congress was TV channels reproducing the bytes of Anderson and Arjun Singh before the former flew out on December 7, 1984. “House arrest or no arrest or bail, no bail, I am free to go home... There is a law of the United States...India, bye, bye. Thank you,” Anderson had told BBC.

That the Government gave safe passage to Anderson is clear from the TV bytes of the time given by Arjun Singh who, standing just outside the Union Carbide plant, had said, “There was no intention to prosecute anyone or try to, sort of, harass anyone. Therefore, he (Anderson) was granted bail and he agreed to be present in court when the charges are made.”

On whether the Centre was aware of these, Tewari said, “I reject the conclusions with the contempt they deserve. There was never ever any intention of the Central Government to allow any culprit to go scot-free,” he said.

Saying the blame game should stop, he said, “I can ask the BJP about the Rs 1 lakh it received as donation from Dow, as was reflected in the affidavit it filed before the EC.”

But singing a different tune, AICC’s Legal Aid and Human Rights Department secretary KC Mittal stated in a document, “The atmosphere in December 1984 in Bhopal was charged because of so many deaths. Had Anderson remained in Bhopal, he would have been murdered by the mob and serious law and order problems would have arisen…. It was necessary in such a grave situation that he leaves Bhopal, which was an unavoidable administrative compulsion to prevent aggravation of the situation.”

Arguing that it was the duty of the State to protect the life of every citizen, including a criminal, the document referred to the Government incurring expenses on providing legal aid to Mumbai attack accused Ajmal Kasab. “See how much money has the State spent to save and protect Kasab even though, in the public eye, he has killed so many people,” it stated.

{He could have been kept in Delhi? Why local jail or scot free. Is there no middle option?}

Maintaining that the FIR against Anderson was registered under Section 304A, a bailable offence, the party said he was “rightly” given bail. “There was no condition that he will not leave India, nor could any such condition have been imposed…as such his movements were not restricted within or outside India,” said the document.

It sought to defend then PM Rajiv Gandhi, who was accused by the BJP of having agreed to Anderson’s release under US pressure. “There is a sinister design to somehow drag Rajivji into the picture... The important aspect is that in the grant of compensation or rehabilitation, the Centre has taken adequate steps which are laudable and appreciable,” the Congress said.

It also credited Gandhi with taking a “historic and visionary step” of brining an ordinance that was later converted into an Act for filing a legal suit in American courts, saying it protected the interests of victims who would otherwise have been “doomed” and further victimised.

{But same govt made sure the case gets referred back to Indian and furtehr reduced the compesation from Rs 1000 crores to much less using judicial process}


“It was because of this step by Rajiv Gandhi that the compensation could be made available for rehabilitation,” the document stated.

{And the complete compensation has not been dstributed so far!}

The party is now questioning the role of non-Congress Governments in the episode. “Dr Subramaniam Swami, the Law Minister during the prime ministership of Chandrashekhar, as also NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister LK Advani did not take any step or even bother to look into the matter during their tenures. They were totally unconcerned,” it stated.

{Sherlcok, Anderson was granted nominal bail and escorted out of the state and even given govt audience all by Congress, before he flew out of India and the INC wants to balme govts that came much later after the event for not redressing the wrongs!}

[SBajwa]

With all respects to SBajwaji's quotes

These quotes are from the Great Sage of India named the one and only Swami Vivekanand. Anybody remembers him? We can learn a lot from his wisdom.

The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through experience.

When there is a conflict between heart and brain, let the heart be followed.

A man of intellect can turn into a devil but never a man of heart.

Religion is not a theoretical need but a practical necessity.

Renunciation does not mean simply dispassion for the world. It means
dispassion for the world and also longing for God.

There is no misery where there is no want.

Every new thought must create opposition.

Renunciation is the withdrawal of mind from other things and concentrating it on God.

Every man who thinks ahead of his time is sure to be misunderstood.

In this short life there is no time for the exchange of compliments.

Do not wait to cross the river when the water has all run down.

The greatest sin is fear.

Better the scolding of the wise than the adulation of the fools.

If you love God's creation more than God, you will be disillusioned.

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth can't be sacrificed for anything.

God has become man, man will become god again.

If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that we can attain
perfection in any other life.

That part of the Vedas which agrees with reason is the Vedas, and nothing else.

If you want to do anything evil, do it before the eyes of your superiors.

Happiness presents itself before man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head.

If one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom.

If you can't attain salvation in this life, what proof is there that you can attain it in the
life or lives to come?

Never mind if your contribution is only a mite, your help only a little, blades of grass united
into a rope will hold in confinement the maddest of elephants.

The cow never tells a lie, and the stone never steals, but, nevertheless, the cow remains a
cow and the stone remains a stone. Man steals and man tells a lie, and again it is man that
becomes the god.

When even man never hears the cries of the fool, do you think God will?

Strength is life, weakness is death.

Never are the wants of a beggar fulfilled.

We want the education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the
intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

Tell the man his defaults directly but praise his virtues before others.

[brihaspati]

But singing a different tune, AICC’s Legal Aid and Human Rights Department secretary KC Mittal stated in a document, “The atmosphere in December 1984 in Bhopal was charged because of so many deaths. Had Anderson remained in Bhopal, he would have been murdered by the mob and serious law and order problems would have arisen…. It was necessary in such a grave situation that he leaves Bhopal, which was an unavoidable administrative compulsion to prevent aggravation of the situation.”

The "expected deterioration of law and order situation" is a most convenient tool applied by the Congress GOI's repeatedly. So freedom of expression or right to explore, criticize Islamism or EJism, has to be killed off in the name of supposed "law and order deterioration", but any minor mob can rampage through cities citing imagined or claimed outrage at words or expressions or passages from the book. However, pre-emptive steps can be taken to protect an Anderson, or maybe the "friends" of Anderson (by protecting Anderson) citing the same potential "law and order deterioration" excuse!

Using the same malicious and devious cowardly excuse, the Congress this time protects its subservience to international financial clout.

[brihaspati]

SBajwa ji,
Unfortunately, I do not agree with each and every statement attributed to Swami Vivekananda. I consider him as an important stage in the intellectual development of the "Hindu" thought in contact and and in competition with Christian missionary activity and colonial subjugation. But I also take his statements in the context of his experiences, his times, his priorities, and whatever knowledge was available to him at that period of time.

I do not support the "missionary" direction the subsequent following of his activism has taken, because it has almost entirely been recast as a "total service and only service to humanity" tag to "Hinduism". I have had to fight with a whole host of historians abroad hell-bent on highlighting this "pure service" aspect of "Hinduism", and Swamiji's laudatory comments on Islam - to cast only this line as the legitimate and "true" "Hinduism". All political, military self-assertion tags have therefore been attacked and sought to be delegitimized using this aspect of Swamiji's writings.

In particular, I do not think the heart should rule over the head long term. Short term impetuosity is fine - when and where it is shrewdly used to mobilize and sway populations or soldiers on the battlefield. Also the next comment on "intellect" is rather tricky and sounds rather arbitrary - hence disagreed.

We cannot bind ourselves to individual's opinions and utterings. In spite of all respect and acknowledgment of their contribution at their time, we need to retain the freedom to re-evaluate their sayings as to context and current applicability.

[Carl_T]

I do not support the "missionary" direction the subsequent following of his activism has taken, because it has almost entirely been recast as a "total service and only service to humanity" tag to "Hinduism". I have had to fight with a whole host of historians abroad hell-bent on highlighting this "pure service" aspect of "Hinduism", and Swamiji's laudatory comments on Islam - to cast only this line as the legitimate and "true" "Hinduism". All political, military self-assertion tags have therefore been attacked and sought to be delegitimized using this aspect of Swamiji's writings.

Could you clarify what you mean? Most historians I have read or spoken to focus on his "military self-assertion" tags or focuses on his role as a "revivalist".

[brihaspati]

not his "military" but "militant" or "organized" stance - Gwilym Beckerlegge for example.

[SBajwa]

by Brahspati
We cannot bind ourselves to individual's opinions and utterings. In spite of all respect and acknowledgment of their contribution at their time, we need to retain the freedom to re-evaluate their sayings as to context and current applicability.

I whole heartedly agree!! In my opinion we have to never forget the contributions of these individuals who have revived the almost dead indian thought in their times. We have to learn from them and move on to not repeat the mistakes committed by our ancestors!!

[Pranav]

rediff.com: Rahul@40: Special Series: http://news.rediff.com/news/rahulgandhi40.html

We've seen him riding a bicyle along the streets of New Delhi and boarding a Mumbai local train. Critics say he is playing to the gallery, followers say he is putting a fresh young spin on Indian politics.

Whoever you believe, there's no doubt that Rahul Gandhi is a future leader of India. And as he turns 40, we put him under the microscope to bring you all that you should know about him.

Amazing how servile people can get.

[naren]

All political, military self-assertion tags have therefore been attacked and sought to be delegitimized using this aspect of Swamiji's writings.

AoA

The_East_and_The_West/Introduction

With us, the prominent idea is Mukti; with the Westerners, it is Dharma. What we desire is Mukti; what they want is Dharma. Here the word "Dharma" is used in the sense of the Mimâmsakas. What is Dharma? Dharma is that which makes man seek for happiness in this world or the next. Dharma is established on work, Dharma is impelling man day and night to run after and work for happiness.


What is Mukti? That which teaches that even the happiness of this life is slavery, and the same is the happiness of the life to come, because neither this world nor the next is beyond the laws of nature; only, the slavery of this world is to that of the next as an iron chain is to a golden one. Again, happiness, wherever it may be, being within the laws of nature, is subject to death and will not last ad infinitum. Therefore man must aspire to become Mukta, he must go beyond the bondage of the body; slavery will not do. This Mokshapath is only in India and nowhere else. Hence is true the oft-repeated saying that Mukta souls are only in India and in no other country. But it is equally true that in future they will be in other countries as well; that is well and good, and a thing of great pleasure to us. There was a time in India when Dharma was compatible with Mukti. There were worshippers of Dharma, such as Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Duryodhana, Bhishma, and Karna, side by side with the aspirants of Mukti, such as Vyâsa, Shuka, and Janaka. On the advent of Buddhism, Dharma was entirely neglected, and the path of Moksha alone became predominant. Hence, we read in the Agni Purâna, in the language of similes, that the demon Gayâsura—that is, Buddha[1]—tried to destroy the world by showing the path of Moksha to all; and therefore the Devas held a council and by stratagem set him at rest for ever. However, the central fact is that the fall of our country, of which we hear so much spoken, is due to the utter want of this Dharma. If the whole nation practices and follows the path of Moksha, that is well and good; but is that possible? Without enjoyment, renunciation can never come; first enjoy and then you can renounce. Otherwise, if the whole nation, all of a sudden, takes up Sannyâsa, it does not gain what it desires, but it loses what it had into the bargain—the bird in the hand is fled, nor is that in the bush caught. When, in the heyday of Buddhistic supremacy, thousands of Sannyâsins lived in every monastery, then it was that the country was just on the verge of its ruin! The Bauddhas, the Christians, the Mussulmans, and the Jains prescribe, in their folly, the same law and the same rule for all. That is a great mistake; education, habits, customs, laws, and rules should be different for different men and nations, in conformity with their difference of temperament. What will it avail, if one tries to make them all uniform by compulsion? The Bauddhas declared, "Nothing is more desirable in life than Moksha; whoever you are, come one and all to take it." I ask, "Is that ever possible?" "You are a householder, you must not concern yourself much with things of that sort: you do your Svadharma (natural duty)"—thus say the Hindu scriptures. Exactly so! He who cannot leap one foot, is going to jump across the ocean to Lankâ in one bound! Is it reason? You cannot feed your own family or dole out food to two of your fellow-men, you cannot do even an ordinary piece of work for the common good, in harmony with others—and you are running after Mukti! The Hindu scriptures say, "No doubt, Moksha is far superior to Dharma; but Dharma should be finished first of all". The Bauddhas were confounded just there and brought about all sorts of mischief. Non-injury is right; "Resist not evil" is a great thing—these are indeed grand principles; but the scriptures say, "Thou art a householder; if anyone smites thee on thy cheek, and thou dost not return him an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, thou wilt verily be a sinner." Manu says, "When one has come to kill you, there is no sin in killing him, even though he be a Brâhmin" (Manu, VIII. 350). This is very true, and this is a thing which should not be forgotten. Heroes only enjoy the world. Show your heroism; apply, according to circumstances, the fourfold political maxims of conciliation, bribery, sowing dissensions, and open war, to win over your adversary and enjoy the world—then you will be Dhârmika (righteous). Otherwise, you live a disgraceful life if you pocket your insults when you are kicked and trodden down by anyone who takes it into his head to do so; your life is a veritable hell here, and so is the life hereafter. This is what the Shastras say. Do your Svadharma—this is truth, the truth of truths. This is my advice to you, my beloved co-religionists. Of course, do not do any wrong, do not injure or tyrannise over anyone, but try to do good to others as much as you can. But passively to submit to wrong done by others is a sin—with the householder. He must try to pay them back in their own coin then and there. The householder must earn money with great effort and enthusiasm, and by that must support and bring comforts to his own family and to others, and perform good works as far as possible. If you cannot do that, how do you profess to be a man? You are not a householder even—what to talk of Moksha for you!!


We have said before that Dharma is based on work. The nature of the Dharmika is constant performance of action with efficiency. Why, even the opinion of some Mimamsakas is that those parts of the Vedas which do not enjoin work are not, properly speaking, Vedas at all. One of the aphorisms of Jaimini runs thus: "आम्नायस्य क्रियार्थत्वादानर्थक्यमतदर्थानाम्—The purpose of the Vedas being work, those parts of the Vedas that do not deal with work miss the mark."


"By constant repetition of the syllable Om and by meditating on its meaning, everything can be obtained"; "All sins are washed away by uttering the name of the Lord"; "He gets all, who resigns himself to the Will of God"—yes, these words of the Shastras and the sages are, no doubt, true. But, do you see, thousands of us are, for our whole life, meditating on Om, are getting ecstatic in devotion in the name of the Lord, and are crying, "Thy Will be done, I am fully resigned to Thee! "—and what are they actually getting in return? Absolutely nothing! How do you account for this? The reason lies here, and it must be fully understood. Whose meditation is real and effective? Who can really resign himself to the Will of God? Who can utter with power irresistible, like that of a thunderbolt, the name of the Lord? It is he who has earned Chitta-shuddhi, that is, whose mind has been purified by work, or in other words, he who is the Dharmika.


Every individual is a centre for the manifestation of a certain force. This force has been stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of us is born with this force at his back. So long as this force has not worked itself out, who can possibly remain quiet and give up work? Until then, he will have to enjoy or suffer according to the fruition of his good or bad work and will be irresistibly impelled to do work. Since enjoyment and work cannot be given up till then, is it not better to do good rather than bad works—to enjoy happiness rather than suffer misery? Shri Râmprasâd[2] used to say, "They speak of two works, 'good' and 'bad'; of them, it is better to do the good."


Now what is that good which is to be pursued? The good for him who desires Moksha is one, and the good for him who wants Dharma is another. This is the great truth which the Lord Shri Krishna, the revealer of the Gita, has tried therein to explain, and upon this great truth is established the Varnâshrama[3] system and the doctrine of Svadharma etc. of the Hindu religion.

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।
निर्ममो निरहंकारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥ ( Gita, XII.13.)

—"He who has no enemy, and is friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free from the feelings of 'me and mine', even-minded in pain and pleasure, and forbearing"—these and other epithets of like nature are for him whose one goal in life is Moksha.

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥ (Gita, II. 3.)

—"Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Prithâ! Ill cloth it befit thee. Cast off this mean faint-heartedness and arise. O scorcher of thine enemies."

तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम् ।
मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन् ॥ (Gita, XI. 33.)

—"Therefore do thou arise and acquire fame. After conquering thy enemies, enjoy unrivalled dominion; verily, by Myself have they been already slain; be thou merely the instrument, O Savyasâchin (Arjuna)."

In these and similar passages in the Gita the Lord is showing the way to Dharma. Of course, work is always mixed with good and evil, and to work, one has to incur sin, more or less. But what of that? Let it be so. Is not something better than nothing? Is not insufficient food better than going without any? Is not doing work, though mixed with good and evil, better than doing nothing and passing an idle and inactive life, and being like stones? The cow never tells a lie, and the stone never steals, but, nevertheless, the cow remains a cow and the stone a stone. Man steals and man tells lies, and again it is man that becomes a god. With the prevalence of the Sâttvika essence, man becomes inactive and rests always in a state of deep Dhyâna or contemplation; with the prevalence of the Rajas, he does bad as well as good works; and with the prevalence of the Tamas again, he becomes inactive and inert. Now, tell me, looking from outside, how are we to understand, whether you are in a state wherein the Sattva or the Tamas prevails? Whether we are in the state of Sattvika calmness, beyond all pleasure and pain, and past all work and activity, or whether we are in the lowest Tâmasika state, lifeless, passive, dull as dead matter, and doing no work, because there is no power in us to do it, and are, thus, silently and by degrees, getting rotten and corrupted within—I seriously ask you this question and demand an answer. Ask your own mind, and you shall know what the reality is. But, what need to wait for the answer? The tree is known by its fruit. The Sattva prevailing, the man is inactive, he is calm, to be sure; but that inactivity is the outcome of the centralization of great powers, that calmness is the mother of tremendous energy. That highly Sattivka man, that great soul, has no longer to work as we do with hands and feet—by his mere willing only, all his works are immediately accomplished to perfection. That man of predominating Sattva is the Brahmin, the worshipped of all. Has he to go about from door to door, begging others to worship him? The Almighty Mother of the universe writes with Her own hand, in golden letters on his forehead, "Worship ye all, this great one, this son of Mine", and the world reads and listens to it and humbly bows down its head before him in obedience. That man is really—

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।
निर्ममो निरहंकारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥ ( Gita, XII.13.)

—"He who has no enemy, and is friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free from the feelings of 'me and mine', even-minded in pain and pleasure, and forbearing." And mark you, those things which you see in pusillanimous, effeminate folk who speak in a nasal tone chewing every syllable, whose voice is as thin as of one who has been starving for a week, who are like a tattered wet rag, who never protest or are moved even if kicked by anybody—those are the signs of the lowest Tamas, those are the signs of death, not of Sattva—all corruption and stench. It is because Arjuna was going to fall into the ranks of these men that the Lord is explaining matters to him so elaborately in the Gita. Is that not the fact? Listen to the very first words that came out of the mouth of the Lord, "क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते—Yield not to unmanliness, O Pârtha! Ill, doth it befit thee!" and then later, "तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व—Therefore do thou arise and acquire fame." Coming under the influence of the Jains, Buddhas, and others, we have joined the lines of those Tamasika people. During these last thousand years, the whole country is filling the air with the name of the Lord and is sending its prayers to Him; and the Lord is never lending His ears to them. And why should He? When even man never hears the cries of the fool, do you think God will? Now the only way out is to listen to the words of the Lord in the Gita, "क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ—Yield not to unmanliness, O Partha!" "तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व—Therefore do thou arise and acquire fame."


Now let us go on with our subject-matter—the East and the West. First see the irony of it. Jesus Christ, the God of the Europeans, has taught: Have no enemy, bless them that curse you; whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; stop all your work and be ready for the next world; the end of the world is near at hand. And our Lord in the Gita is saying: Always work with great enthusiasm, destroy your enemies and enjoy the world. But, after all, it turned out to be exactly the reverse of what Christ or Krishna implied. The Europeans never took the words of Jesus Christ seriously. Always of active habits, being possessed of a tremendous Râjasika nature, they are gathering with great enterprise and youthful ardour the comforts and luxuries of the different countries of the world and enjoying them to their hearts' content. And we are sitting in a corner, with our bag and baggage, pondering on death day and night, and singing," नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलं तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम्—Very tremulous and unsteady is the water on the lotus-leaf; so is the life of man frail and transient"—with the result that it is making our blood run cold and our flesh creep with the fear of Yama, the god of death; and Yama, too, alas, has taken us at our word, as it were—plague and all sorts of maladies have entered into our country! Who are following the teachings of the Gita?—the Europeans. And who are acting according to the will of Jesus Christ?—The descendants of Shri Krishna! This must be well understood. The Vedas were the first to find and proclaim the way to Moksha, and from that one source, the Vedas, was taken whatever any great Teacher, say, Buddha or Christ, afterwards taught. Now, they were Sannyasins, and therefore they "had no enemy and were friendly and compassionate towards all". That was well and good for them. But why this attempt to compel the whole world to follow the same path to Moksha? "Can beauty be manufactured by rubbing and scrubbing? Can anybody's love be won by threats or force?" What does Buddha or Christ prescribe for the man who neither wants Moksha nor is fit to receive it?—Nothing! Either you must have Moksha or you are doomed to destruction—these are the only two ways held forth by them, and there is no middle course. You are tied hand and foot in the matter of trying for anything other than Moksha. There is no way shown how you may enjoy the world a little for a time; not only all openings to that are hermetically sealed to you, but, in addition, there are obstructions put at every step. It is only the Vedic religion which considers ways and means and lays down rules for the fourfold attainment of man, comprising Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. Buddha ruined us, and so did Christ ruin Greece and Rome! Then, in due course of time, fortunately, the Europeans became Protestants, shook off the teachings of Christ as represented by Papal authority, and heaved a sigh of relief. In India, Kumârila again brought into currency the Karma-Mârga, the way of Karma only, and Shankara and Râmânuja firmly re-established the Eternal Vedic religion, harmonising and balancing in due proportions Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. Thus the nation was brought to the way of regaining its lost life; but India has three hundred million souls to wake, and hence the delay. To revive three hundred millions—can it be done in a day?


The aims of the Buddhistic and the Vedic religions are the same, but the means adopted by the Buddhistic are not right. If the Buddhistic means were correct, then why have we been thus hopelessly lost and ruined? It will not do to say that the efflux of time has naturally wrought this. Can time work, transgressing the laws of cause and effect?

Therefore, though the aims are the same, the Bauddhas for want of right means have degraded India. Perhaps my Bauddha brothers will be offended at this remark, and fret and fume; but there's no help for it; the truth ought to be told, and I do not care for the result. The right and correct means is that of the Vedas—the Jâti Dharma, that is, the Dharma enjoined according to the different castes—the Svadharma, that is, one's own Dharma, or set of duties prescribed for man according to his capacity and position—which is the very basis of Vedic religion and Vedic society.

Reminds me of a golden quote from Swamiji Himself:

"Break not, pull not anything down, but build. Help, if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help. Say not a word against any man's convictions so far as they are sincere. "

[kittoo]

rediff.com: Rahul@40: Special Series: http://news.rediff.com/news/rahulgandhi40.html

We've seen him riding a bicyle along the streets of New Delhi and boarding a Mumbai local train. Critics say he is playing to the gallery, followers say he is putting a fresh young spin on Indian politics.

Whoever you believe, there's no doubt that Rahul Gandhi is a future leader of India. And as he turns 40, we put him under the microscope to bring you all that you should know about him.

Amazing how servile people can get.

I just read the headline- 'RahulJi at 40' and then all I did about it was was an 'thu' on rediff.

[naren]

Talkin 'bout Strategic leadership & Swami Vivekananda, I stumbled upon these very nice videos, delivered on the National Youth Day. Hear the Lion's ROARRRRRRRRRRR !!!!!!!!

(Total 4 parts)


(Total 2 parts)


Srimath Swami Vimurtanandar Speech part1 - Tamil only, no subtitles.

[ramana]

The GoM on Bhopal wants to extradiate Anderson now. What about statute of limitations. Is PC really a lawyer?

[ramana]

Pioneer, op-ed, 21 June 2010

Karmic Comeback

A karmic comeback

Sandhya Jain

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s spin doctors should advise her that when things get tough, silence is perceived as fearful complicity. Once public outrage exploded over the niggardly sentences awarded to the Indian culprits of the Bhopal gas tragedy and it became known that Union Carbide’s American CEO Warren Anderson was given free passage to India, it was simply gross to deflect responsibility from the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Modern India’s worst human and environmental catastrophe was caused by sheer neglect of safety standards in a factory owned by the US-based Union Carbide, despite several warnings by journalist Raj Keswani (Jansatta). There were at least three mishaps in the plant before the main tragedy (a fire, two gas leaks), and two factory workers had died, a fact the American management would have known.

The anticipated accident occurred on the night of December 2, 1984, emitting toxic methyl isocyanate gas that instantly took nearly 5,000 lives; another 10,000 died subsequently; five lakh are affected to this day and several thousands are grievously ill and incapacitated; the ground water is poisoned with pesticides.

The famed indifference of the political elite to the lives of the poor and judicial determination not to surpass bullock cart speed kept justice at bay for 26 long years, until a desultory verdict on June 7 broke the dam of public patience. Now, the piteous cries of victims are drowned by an irate nation demanding explanation for the paltry $470 million (Rs 705 crore) deal that the Government of India negotiated with the US multinational in 1989, and with Supreme Court sanction, quashed criminal proceedings against UCC.

As for the cash-rich Bhopal hospital built with profits from the sale of the plant in 1992, its life chairman is then Chief Justice of India AM Ahmadi, who presided over a Supreme Court bench which diluted the charges against the Union Carbide executives in 1996 by converting the CBI charge under the stringent provisions of 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) that provided for maximum imprisonment of 10 years, to Section 304 (a) (death due to negligence) with just two years maximum imprisonment. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said this was tantamount to turning a disaster into a car accident! Further, the judge personally dismissed a petition seeking review of this dilution of legal indemnity against Carbide, but when the controversy broke, tried to pin the blame on the Government.

Of course the larger issue of public accountability concerns the role of the Government of India and then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The then US deputy chief of mission, Mr Gordon Streeb, claimed that Warren Anderson flew to India only after receiving a specific assurance of “safe passage” and immunity from legal action during his stay. So when Anderson was arrested by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun Singh on December 7, 1984, possibly to earn brownie points with the electorate and unaware of the deal, the Americans cried foul and ensured his instant release; VIP passage to Delhi; and return to America. If we accept the American claim that Anderson wanted to come to India to show “concern for the victims”, he certainly expressed no apology or regret. When charged with culpable homicide, he never returned to face Indian courts.

The Congress’s and the Centre’s woes began when senior Ministers rushed to rubbish the claims of Mr BR Lall, then investigating officer and former CBI joint director, that the Ministry of External Affairs had directed the CBI not to pursue the extradition case against Anderson. Subsequently, former Bhopal Collector Moti Singh said the then Chief Secretary Brahma Swaroop had asked him and Superintendent of Police Swaraj Puri to bail out Anderson and see him off at Bhopal airport; then Director of Madhya Pradesh Aviation RC Sondhi and pilot HS Ali, who flew Warren Anderson out of Bhopal, implicated Mr Arjun Singh for Anderson’s release. The veteran Mr Singh merely hinted at the hand of the Centre…

Former close aide and Minister of State Arun Nehru asserted that Anderson had met then Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao and then President Zail Singh in New Delhi. The then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr PC Alexander, hinted that his boss knew of the release.

The BJP’s charge that the Congress is soft on foreigners (Ottavio Quattrocchi) and multinationals, and Anderson’s escape was not possible without Rajiv Gandhi’s consent, received a fillip from then Foreign Secretary MK Rasgotra, who initially denied Mr Streeb’s claim that he was the key liaison in the deal.

Though Mr Rasgotra manfully tried to protect Rajiv Gandhi, one has only to read between the lines to glean the truth. Mr Rasgotra says the US Embassy requested him for safe passage for Anderson, and that he agreed to consult the concerned authorities. Thereupon, he got in touch with the Home Ministry and the Cabinet Secretary, and managed to get the desired amnesty on the “same day.”

Sounds good, except that it is inexplicable that the Secretary of one Ministry (in this case External Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) would directly approach the Minister of another Ministry (in this case Home under PV Narasimha Rao), and arrange such a sensitive deal, and then merely convey the decision to the Prime Minister-cum-Foreign Minister. It is unbelievable, and Mr Rasgotra should not try to pull such a fast one.

His claim that the request for safe passage by Anderson was “understandable,” that arrest was “wrong,” and the release “in India’s interest,” is equally specious. So is the Congress claim of a ‘law and order crisis,’ a no-brainer of the kind used by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit to stave off the hanging of Afzal Guru.

Ironically, matters have been brought into perspective by the late Narasimha Rao’s son, Mr Ranga Rao, who has aptly stated that his father would never have taken such a critical decision as granting ‘safe passage’ to the Union Carbide chief just days after the Bhopal tragedy, on his own. It is certain that Narasimha Rao would consult the Prime Minister and other colleagues (was the Law Ministry consulted?), and that he was more likely to delay a decision of this kind rather than hasten it! The ball is back in Ms Gandhi’s court; she would do well to acknowledge what the nation already believes.

I guess this was writen before the GoM released its report white washing the Gandhi role. How come its not a JPC rather than a cabinet group. Arent there conflict of interest issues or is that all passe?

[Matthew_H]

Deleted spam posted on multiple threads.

[darshhan]

I managed to dig out this article which was written by our environment minister a long time ago which shows his love for PRC.He is actually justifying the chinese attack on India in 1962.In this article he also suggests that India's response to Sumdrong Chu was wrong(We should have waited for the Chinese to do another 1962).Worse he states that Gen Sundarji was responsible for Indian Army's build up at Sumdrong Chu.As if Army can deploy more than 100000 soldiers without the knowledge and backing of Political leadership.In this case Rajiv Gandhi.

http://www.india-today.com/itoday/19990802/jairam.html

Seems like in Congress(I) if you establish your traitorial crendentials, you have a better chance of landing a ministership.

With leaders like these we do not need enemies.Also he used to write under the name of "Kautilya" if you notice.I wonder if "Jaichand" or "Mir jafar" would have been more appropriate.

By the way is he still working for the Chinese?In the name of environmental protection he has blocked lot of Road and Mining projects.

[darshhan]

Seems Mr. Jairam ramesh was also against the banning of Chinese Telecom firms like Huawei and ZTE from operating in India.

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... ta-hai.htm

Take the latest one where the foot-in-the-mouth disease caught up with Ramesh, for instance: At a gathering in Beijing he criticised the Indian home ministry over its 'needless' restrictions on Chinese investments in India. He also described the ministry as paranoid when asked why India had banned the import of telecom equipment from Chinese firm Huawei.

He went on to advice the home ministry to be more relaxed and receptive when it came to Chinese investments in India.

It is truly sad to see such a person in Union cabinet.

[naren]

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA HIS LIFE & MESSAGE TO YOUTH (10 parts)

lecture given at Indian institute of science[IIsc] -bangalore by Swami Bodhamayananda RKMA chennai

[darshhan]

Jairam Ramesh hell bent on delaying the Navi Mumbai airport lauch.The more I read about this guy the more I am convinced that he is against India's progress at someone else's bidding.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... sh/643012/

[Muppalla]

Sonia Gandhi and Gujarat

The three pawns of Sonia Gandhi are Harsh Mandar, a former senior IAS officer of Gujarat, Farah Nakwi, a social worker and Mirai Chatterjee. She has understood a fact that if Congress wants to rule the nation, it has to extricate the political kingdom of Modi in Gujarat. This perhaps will be an apt response to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Former bureaucrat Harsh Mandar has opened more than 2000 cases for hearing in the court. For Sonia, it’s the golden opportunity to gain the confidence of the minority in Gujarat.

Mandar tendered his resignation because of Gujarat riots and to encourage communal warmth he founded an organization named Aman Biradari. Mirai Chatterjee and Farah Naqvi Anhad a social worker and writer are associated with this organization.

Since a long time, Farah and Mirai have been working for minorities, women empowerment and their education. They have a strong grip in Gujarat’s rural areas and among uneducated Muslims. Families affected by riots got immense support from them.

These are the major reasons for their inclusion in National Advisory Council.

The state president of BJP A.C. Faldu says that Action Aid and Mandar are encouraging Muslim separatism in India. The intelligence agencies have cautioned the government. But government is intentionally ignoring the issue. A.C Faldu says that Sonia has taken help of corrupt people to fight Modi. Sonia gave 100 crore but never tried to know whether that person is trustable or not. They work less and speak more about it. Harsh gets a huge grant from Action Aid. He takes huge money from Delhi government in the name of the institution. Apart from this, he also gets a huge amount from Jamait-e-ulema-e-Hind.

[ramana]

FRONT PAGE | Tuesday, July 20, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back


SC accepts resignation of Ahmadi as BMHT chief

PNS | New Delhi

Exactly a month after he expressed his desire to quit in the wake of controversy over the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday accepted the resignation of former Chief Justice of India AM Ahmadi as chairman of Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT) and allowed the Centre to take over its management.

A Bench, comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, allowed the Centre to take steps to wind up the trust and run the hospital set up for the benefit of survivors. Attorney General GE Vahanvati conveyed the decision of the Centre to take over the management of the hospital.

The Bench accepted the letter by Ahmadi expressing his desire to be relieved as the chairman of the hospital and placed on record its appreciation of the services rendered by the former CJI in running the trust for the last 12 years. Ahmadi had written to then CJI KG Balakrishnan.

Ahmadi was part of the SC Bench that had taken decisions on the Bhopal gas tragedy case, including the dilution of harsher penal charges in 1996. With public outrage over the verdict and the Opposition cornering the Government on the issue, Law Minister Veerappa Moily had gone to the extent of charging the judiciary for reducing the biggest industrial disaster as a truck accident. In turn, Ahmadi blamed the Government.

Ahmadi was appointed as the chairman on May 15, 1998. Following a SC order, the accused company, Union Carbide, had set up a trust in London in March 1992 and Ian Percival was appointed as its sole trustee.

However, after the death of Percival, BMHT was constituted. The MP Government leased out land to the trust to set up the hospital.

[VenkataS]

An article by "Sadanand Dhume" about the opaque family rule of the Gandhi's and medieval God-King like status that has been bestowed upon them by other congress politicians:

India's Gandhi God-Kings

A quote from the article:

For the family, this opacity clearly has benefits. It keeps them above the fray of petty politics. It allows them to exercise power without responsibility. It gives them the flexibility to change political course on a dime.

[ramana]

Telegraph reports:

PM keen to iron out wrinkles - Rebuff to Pillai reflects bid to shore up peace process

New Delhi, July 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is worried about the hostile climate that emerged after foreign minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to Pakistan and favours immediate de-escalation of tension, highly placed sources told The Telegraph today.

Krishna’s public rebuff to home secretary G.K. Pillai yesterday was part of that project, the sources in the Congress added.

The sources said the Prime Minister would not like the dialogue process to break down and Krishna’s disapproval of the timing of Pillai’s comment was a damage-control gesture. The sources confirmed that Krishna did discuss the matter with the Prime Minister before going public with his response.
....
The appointment of a spokesperson in the home ministry came as a response to these “indiscretions”. Pillai, who is otherwise considered a “bright and efficient” official, will not face more action and is expected to continue in the home ministry. {So sweet. The king wont chop his loyal officer.}

The government also does not want to give the Opposition an issue on the eve of a Parliament session by taking strong action, particularly when a section of the political class has hailed Pillai’s conduct after Qureshi played to his domestic gallery by adopting a belligerent stand.

The dominant view within the ruling combine is that India does not have to stoop to Qureshi’s level to make a point. The sources said Krishna’s “dignified conduct” had been appreciated by the Prime Minister, who is convinced that the collapse of the dialogue process would be detrimental to India’s interests.

The government believes that complete disengagement with Islamabad has not helped India in the past. Besides, the international community will not appreciate an eyeball-to-eyeball situation between India and Pakistan.

The PMO also feels that escalation of tension between the two countries will give hawks in the Pakistani establishment an upper hand, which will not help India in any way.
......
The Indian government has no doubt that state actors did have a role to play in the Mumbai attacks but believes public posturing on this would not help build the right atmospherics for the dialogue.

Sources in the government agreed that the US would not appreciate India making a public show of 26/11 suspect David Headley’s interrogation and Pillai’s remarks were in violation of the promise made to the Obama administration.

“It could become an international embarrassment if the impression gained ground that India does not keep its word,” said a source, conceding that Pillai would not have done this without home minister P. Chidambaram’s clearance.

But the sources sought to play down the possibility of a turf war between the home ministry and the foreign ministry.

Strategic or what!

So sources in govt (most likely PMO) and in Congress tell the Telegraph, a INC supporter owned paper that the PM is not happy with the MHA. And PMO is protecting the Indian image and US interests in DCH revelations. And they deny there is turf war between MHA and MEA.

Offcourse because its between PMO and MHA! Most likely regime change being forestalled.

Total kitchen cabinet politics without accountablity.

Shades of "Corps of Forty" machinations for those who know Delhi history.

[naren]

What are the fundamental drivers of a social order? - CK Prahalad

[Philip]

Is the nation in a coma?

The full piece is in the "Indian Interests" thread,written by an Indian in Germany.I am just quoting part of it here as it indicates where the problem lies.As they say ,
"a fish rots from the head first".If the head of the GOI is "rotten",then corruption becomes rampant and a veritable pandora's box of chicanery,thuggery and free for all looting and abuse of the hallowed institutions of the nation become commonplace.If the people remain silent then the nation is doomed.

Let me substantiate this further with what the European media has to say in recent days.

In a popular prime-time television discussion in Germany, the panellist, a member of the German Parliament quoting a blog said: “If all the scams of the last five years are added up, they are likely to rival and exceed the British colonial loot of India of about a trillion dollars.”
Banana Republic
One German business daily which wrote an editorial on India said: “India is becoming a Banana Republic instead of being an economic superpower. To get the cut motion designated out, assurances are made to political allays. Special treatment is promised at the expense of the people. So, Ms Mayawati who is Chief Minister of the most densely inhabited state, is calmed when an intelligence agency probe is scrapped. The multi-million dollars fodder scam by another former chief minister wielding enormous power is put in cold storage. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chairs over this kind of unparalleled loot.”

An article in a French newspaper titled “Playing the Game, Indian Style” wrote: “Investigations into the shadowy financial deals of the Indian cricket league have revealed a web of transactions across tax havens like Switzerland, the Virgin Islands, Mauritius and Cyprus.” In the same article, the name of one Hassan Ali of Pune is mentioned as operating with his wife a one-billion-dollar illegal Swiss account with “sanction of the Indian regime”.

A third story narrated in the damaging article is that of the former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, who was reported to have funds in various tax havens that were partly used to buy mines in Liberia. “Unfortunately, the Indian public do not know the status of that enquiry,” the article concluded.

“In the nastiest business scam in Indian records (Satyam) the government adroitly covered up the political aspects of the swindle — predominantly involving real estate,” wrote an Austrian newspaper. “If the Indian Prime Minister knows nothing about these scandals, he is ignorant of ground realities and does not deserve to be Prime Minister. If he does, is he a collaborator in crime?”

No wonder Aesop said. “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office.”

Mohan Murti.
(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. )

[brihaspati]

Why should the common Indian open his/her vulnerable mouth? How does it matter whether the looting is going on at the top? He or she cannot sustain or invest the amounts necessary to keep afloat on the Parliamentary sea. Political parties get quickly infiltrated by opportunists who are there to extract capital from the system.

Of course ex-CEO's living in Germany perhaps have no necessity to learn European history and Indian history and the price they have to pay is to hang their heads in shame and flagellate desh. If I was there, my impromptu spat would have been delivered with my head held high :

"India is not an exception to the general trend in parliamentary democracies for legislators to appropriate more from the nation than they are entitled to. Even in such small European nations with claimed centuries of parliaments like UK, recently legislators were found overdrawing and misrepresenting their expenditure. It was an European company which provided kickback for an Indian military deal. It is an European country's bank which protects Indian black money. It appears that where personal or private profits are concerned, even Europeans, just like the Japanese parliamentary system, do not hesitate to indulge in bananas.

Indian have been traumatized into accepting graft and bribery as a natural order of business under the Islamic regimes which institutionalized bribery and integral and normal part of the ruling regimes transactions. The early British indulged in corruption freely in India, and both the early and the later British empire destroyed the capital accumulation process in India.

It is a common feature of all post-colonies denuded of capital by Europe, that politics is taken over by "entrepreneurs" who see that the only way of accumulating capital is by looting from the scarce resources and surplus of the state's appropriation of the nations labour.

If with such stupendous corruption India is still managing 7-8% growth compared to Europe's stagnation, our European concerned friends need not worry too much. In time capital will be more freely available in the system and entrepreneurs will not have to walk the parliamentary route to avaial of it.

Thank you all for your kindnesses"